As always, product “innovation” was a buzz word—Hershey Co., for example, boasted of its forthcoming Ice Breakers Cool Blasts dissolving chewing gum/mint hybrid. But this year, so was “zero-based budgeting,” the start-from-scratch-every-year accounting method employed by famed cost-cutters such as 3G Capital, which last year acquired H.J. Heinz Co.

In a presentation on Tuesday, Kraft Chief Executive Tony Vernon boasted that Kraft’s profit margins have exceeded its peers’ lately, but said “the reality, however, is that with the likes of 3G now in our space, best-in-class overheads keep getting better, and we have more work to do.”

Kraft executives said the company needs a new mindset, and outlined a project to simplify and streamline the work of the finance managers in each category. Chief Financial Officer Teri List-Stoll noted that Kraft currently produces more than 200 reports “to support the planning and reporting exercise. This is not efficient.”

Kraft’s corporate cousin Mondelez has been dealing with more direct pressure to improve its efficiency, from activist investors Nelson Peltz and Jana Partners. Both have taken stakes in the company, with Peltz last month gaining a board seat.

“There’s no question, we had lots of help over the last few months and lots of perspectives as to what we needed to do,” Mondelez CEO Irene Rosenfeld said at the presentation Tuesday. The main message, she said: profit margins need to improve.

Mondelez CFO David Brearton said that it has hired Accenture “to help us rapidly take out costs,” and noted that the consultants also had helped 3G with its investments, including Heinz.

In an interview, Ms. Rosenfeld said the first step in changing the culture is creating a common set of standards around the world. For instance, if someone wants to fly first class and says they will save that money elsewhere, “we say, ‘no, you’ll fly business class and save that money elsewhere,’” she explained.

Mondelez is also closing older factories and replacing them with new ones that its claims are at least 50% more efficient. “When you think about the technology advancements from the ‘40s and ‘50s to now, you can imagine the tremendous opportunities,” Mark Clouse, executive vice president of North America, said in an interview. He also said Mondelez is closing warehouses in the Midwest, since more of its business is back East which reduces warehouse costs by 5% and speeds up distribution.

Campbell Soup Co. bragged that in the last 30 months, it has reduced its headcount by more than 2,000 people, including five plant closings, as well as automation. At a cookie factory in Australia, it installed robots to increase efficiency.

CEO Denise Morrison said that Campbell has gone through its entire portfolio of product lines and assigned spending goals based on the importance of each one.

“Managing cost and margins shouldn’t be an event,” she said. “It should be a way of life.”